The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Wes Anderson's films are generally pretty great. His style is unique and perfected, and in films like THE ROYAL TENNENBAUMS or THE DARJEELING LIMITED, his approach results in greatness. THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU, which features many of Anderson's frequent collaborators is not one of his great films. It follows Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) of the title, who goes on underwater adventures and has made countless documentaries on them. Now however, Steve and Team Zissou are all washed up. They're close to being broke, one of their long-time shipmates, Esteban, has been eaten by a mythological shark, and their latest film THE JAGUAR SHARK Pt. 1 was a complete failure. Steve still has his heart in adventuring, and two promising people show up before he sets out to film part two of the Jaguar shark series. One of these is Steve's son Ned (Owen Wilson). Steve isn't connected well to his son, and we learn more and more about Steve's active separation from him, but Ned seems like a good subplot for Steve's next film, and he's briskly inducted into Team Zissou (after Steve changes Ned's name legally to Kingsley Zissou). The other promising person entering the team is a reporter doing a cover story on Steve. She's played by Cate Blanchett, and stirs up Steve throughout the voyage. THE LIFE AQUATIC seems to have so many things going for it: Anderson's direction and quirks to start. But the film is firstly mired by bad sound editing, long stretches of nothing, and the realization that if Steve Zissou is washed up and boring to an idiot public in the movie, then how is it any more entertaining to watch what is essentially a "behind the scenes with Steve Zissou" film, if he considers these scenes unworthy of his documentary? There is undeniable charm and excitement that exists in pockets of the film, but they're too often on the periphery.
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou: ★★